This Sweet Senior May Be The World's Oldest Cat Now

An ancient proverb states that cats have nine lives, and that has never been more true than for Nutmeg.

The grumpy tabby who held the title for world’s oldest cat lived her life to the fullest until she passed in September at the age of 32 — or 144 in cat years.

Now a new upstart in Werribee, Australia, could be the next feline to hold the title. At 26 years old, Teddy is Australia’s oldest living cat, and his owner, Fran English, is applying to the Guinness Book of World Records to make it official.

English adopted Teddy in 2014 when his elderly owner could no longer care for him, and was shocked when Teddy’s microchip revealed that he was born in 1991.

The long-haired black cat is in surprisingly good shape for his advanced age, still finding plenty of time each day to prowl around English’s garden and play in the sun.

Teddy has a rather unusual secret to his longevity, English notes on his Facebook page. Each day he eats a sprig of rosemary from the garden and then gets nice and clean in the shower.

"He used to try and get in the shower with me so I decided to let him get in one day and it just took off from there," Fran told Yahoo News. Teddy’s fascination with water has only increased over the years. Now he goes into the shower and waits for it to be turned on, and after his rinse, gets toweled off by his doting mom.

Diagnosed with arthritis earlier this summer, he now takes medicine daily to keep him comfortable and active, along with his normal diet of canned tuna and kangaroo meat. His mom even built him a ramp up to the bed.

But despite a few gray hairs, he’s still friendly and outgoing. Teddy loves to “go out for a wander” according to his mom’s Facebook posts, gnawing on herbs and drinking from his own little fountain outside. The average life expectancy for an indoor cat is between 12 to 18 years old, while cats who roam outdoors tend to have shorter life spans, and Teddy has surpassed all expectations, amazing even his vets.

While he is still a few years off from Nutmeg’s record — and the one set by Creme Puff, the oldest cat ever recorded, at 38 years old — Teddy is remarkable for so many reasons already.

Whether or not the 120-year-old (in cat years) wins the title, he will continue to be a special little guy.